Monday, April 25, 2011

Where in the world?

It has been a long and boring Easter weekend.  I wanted to blog about something, but nothing is going on at all.  So, I decided to rank my preferences of all posts worldwide.  I used this website for a list of all the diplomatic posts.  This is a fluid ranking and is done in a relatively short amount of time.  I have ignored the fact that I need to serve in a language post for my next tour.  (I ignored all of the special missions, such as UNESCO or OECD, except the UN).  Overall, Belmopan would fall around the 50s or so for a post.


  1. Rome, Italy
  2. Berlin, Germany
  3. Prague, Czech Republic
  4. The Holy See, Vatican City
  5. Florence, Itlay
  6. Paris, France
  7. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  8. Sydney, Australia
  9. Vienna, Austria
  10. London, England
  11. Budapest, Hungary
  12. Athens, Greece
  13. Frankfurt, Germany
  14. Buenos Aires, Argentina
  15. Stockholm, Sweden
  16. San Jose, Costa Rica
  17. Istanbul, Turkey
  18. St. Petersburg, Russia
  19. Wellington, New Zealand
  20. Milan, Italy
  21. Lisbon, Portugal
  22. Barcelona, Spain
  23. Talinn, Estonia
  24. Amsterdam, Netherlands
  25. Oslo, Norway
  26. Munich, Germany
  27. Naples, Italy
  28. Vilnius, Lithuania
  29. Brussels, Belgium
  30. Dublin, Ireland
  31. Zagreb, Croatia
  32. Jerusalem, Israel (although this works mostly with Palestinians)
  33. Bratislava, Slovakia
  34. France, other (not going to separate out all of the different consulates, but southern France sounds better than northern France)
  35. Valetta, Malta
  36. Hong Kong
  37. Sofia, Bulgaria
  38. Tel Aviv, Israel
  39. Frankfurt, Germany
  40. Dusseldorf, Germany
  41. Hamburg, Germany
  42. Leipzig, Germany
  43. The Hague, Netherlands
  44. Nicosia, Cyprus
  45. Copenhagen, Denmark
  46. Helsinki, Finland
  47. Recife, Brazil
  48. Havana, Cuba (US interest section)
  49. Thessaloniki, Greece
  50. Reykjavik, Iceland
  51. Luxembourg
  52. Bangkok, Thailand
  53. Bucharest, Romania
  54. Ljubljana, Slovenia
  55. Bern, Switzerland (all other Switzerland posts would fall into here as well)
  56. Turkey, Ankara
  57. Tokyo, Japan (this would have been higher before the earthquake)
  58. Cairo, Egypt (this would have been much higher before the revolution)
  59. Australia, (Melbourne, Perth, Canberra)
  60. Shanghai, China
  61. Sao Paolo, Brazil
  62. Maputo, Mozambique
  63. Beijing, China
  64. Belgrade, Serbia
  65. Minsk, Belarus
  66. Singapore
  67. Skopje, Macedonia
  68. Russia, Yekaterinburg orVladivostok
  69. Kyiv, Ukraine
  70. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  71. small Pacific island nations - Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Samoa, Fiji,
  72. Madrid, Spain
  73. Seoul, South Korea (would be higher if not for everyone living on the base)
  74. Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
  75. Mumbai, India
  76. Amman, Jordan
  77. Beirut, Lebanon
  78. Windhoek, Namibia
  79. Japan, other (would have been higher before the earthquake)
  80. Maseru, Lesotho
  81. Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
  82. Montevideo, Uruguay
  83. Santiago, Chile
  84. Lusaka, Zambia
  85. Casablanca, Morocco
  86. Rabat, Morocco
  87. Bridgetown, Barbados
  88. Kuala Lampur, Malaysia
  89. Hanoi, Vietnam
  90. UN - NYC
  91. China, other (this includes the rest of the China posts, except Shenyang, which will be lower)
  92. Canada, all (Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver would be at the tops of the list, but at this point in my career, I am just not all that interested in Canada, but it would not be a bad place to go).
  93. Brasilia, Brazil
  94. Panama City, Panama
  95. Santiago, Chile
  96. Bogota, Columbia
  97. Taipei, Taiwan
  98. Nassau, Bahamas
  99. Caracas, Venezuela
  100. Lima, Peru
  101. Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
  102. Mexico City, Mexico
  103. Kigali, Rwanda
  104. Jakarta, Indonesia
  105. Tirana, Albania
  106. Pristina, Kosovo
  107. Podgorica, Montenegro
  108. Warsaw, Poland (I visited once and really didn't like the city).
  109. Damascus, Syria
  110. Kolkatta, India
  111. Phenom Penh, Cambodia
  112. Vientiane, Laos
  113. Dubai, UAE
  114. Guadalajara, Mexico
  115. Hamilton, Bermuda
  116. Nairobi, Kenya
  117. Chiang Mai, Thailand
  118. Kampala, Uganda
  119. Abu Dhabi, UAE
  120. Manila, Philippines 
  121. Antananarivo, Madagascar
  122. Mbabane, Swaziland
  123. Hyderabad, India
  124. New Delhi, India
  125. Chennai, India
  126. Kuwait City, Kuwait
  127. Tunis, Tunisia
  128. Colombo, Sri Lanka
  129. Doha, Qatar
  130. Kingston, Jamaica
  131. Port Louis, Mauritius
  132. Managua, Nicaragua
  133. Paramiribo, Suriname
  134. La Paz, Bolivia
  135. Tashkent, Uzbekistan
  136. Manama, Bahrain
  137. Yerevan, Armenia
  138. Tblisi, Georgia
  139. Chisinau, Moldova
  140. Hamilton, Bermuda
  141. Quito, Ecuador
  142. Guyaquil, Ecuador
  143. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  144. San Salvador, El Salvador
  145. Asuncion, Paraguay
  146. Tegucigalpa, Honduras
  147. Pretoria, South Africa (be higher if it were Cape Town)
  148. Guatemala City, Guatemala
  149. Ougadougou, Burkina Faso
  150. Gabourone, Botswana
  151. Dakar, Senegal
  152. Harare, Zimbabwe
  153. Georgetown, Guyana
  154. Katmandu, Nepal
  155. Cotonou, Benin
  156. Lome, Togo
  157. Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
  158. Asmara, Eritrea
  159. Libreville, Gabon
  160. Baku, Azerbaijan
  161. Addis Abba, Ethiopia
  162. Mexico border posts (some are ranked higher than the other)
  163. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
  164. Djibouti
  165. Muscat, Oman
  166. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
  167. Dushanbe, Tajikistan
  168. Brunei
  169. Ulaan Baator, Mongolia
  170. Baghdad, Iraq (only for the money)
  171. Accra, Ghana
  172. Kinshasa, DRC
  173. Tripoli, Libya (if the war is over)
  174. Banjul, The Gambia
  175. Bangui, CAR
  176. Luanda, Angola (I could learn Portuguese and go to a better place later)
  177. Dhaka, Bangladesh
  178. Yaounde, Cameroon
  179. Praia, Cape Verde
  180. Free Town, Sierra Leone
  181. Nouakchott, Mauritania
  182. Bujumbura, Burundi
  183. Port Moreseby, PNG
  184. N'Djamena, Chad
  185. Bamako, Mali
  186. Conarky, Guinea
  187. Niamey, Niger
  188. Monrovia, Liberia
  189. Rangoon, Burma
  190. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  191. Saudi Arabia (other)
  192. Malabo, Equitorial Guinea
  193. Pakistan other
  194. Dili, Timor-Leste
  195. Islamabad, Pakistan
  196. Khartoum, Sudan
  197. Kabul, Afghanistan
  198. Juba, Sudan
  199. Sanaa Yemen
  200. Port-au Prince, Haiti
  201. Somalia
  202. Abidjan, Coite D'Ivoire
  203. Abujua, Nigeria
A bit about the list - the bottom ten was about as hard to put together as the top 10.  A few places like Kabul and Baghdad were sent up the list because of the overtime possibilities, as well as the fact that they are usually only one year posts.

The top 60 or so are the places I'd really like to go.  The next cut off is around 100, I'd still be excited to go to these places but not jumping over the moon.  The 'I don't want to go to this place' list starts at 157 and below.  That is not to say these places don't have redeeming values, but they won't be making the top of any list I turn in.

Several decent places, in Central and Latin America, were down graded simply because I will have spent the last two years in Belize.  I really don't want to spend the next two years in another central American post.

Finally, there are a lot of places, especially in Africa, that I know little to nothing about.  I only know that much of Western Africa is crowded and some of the places are bad.  So, there may be gems in Africa and central Asia that I don't recognize at this time.












2 comments:

  1. That's a fun project. When do you get your next bid list. Soon, no?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Next bid list not until late summer, I think.

    ReplyDelete